Opera For Everyone

Handel’s beloved Messiah, known for its thrilling Hallelujah Chorus, is a long-standing favorite during the Christmas season.  Neither an opera, nor Christmas music, this English-language oratorio was...

20 Dec 20221h 58min

Have you ever asked what might be going on backstage at an opera house?  Or wondered about what secrets hide behind those glittering stages?  Drawing on 21 years as a violinist in the Metropolitan Ope...

27 Nov 20221h 58min

Glittering and gloriously tuneful, Die Fledermaus (“The Bat”) is the most enduring operetta of Vienna’s famous “Waltz King,” Johann Strauss II.  Its plot features revenge, infidelity, disguised identi...

28 Okt 20222h 4min

Masks, both literal and figurative, abound in Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera, “A Masked Ball.”  Conspirators feign support of a leader they despise.  A noblewoman must veil both her face and her feeling...

13 Sep 20221h 58min

A beloved king becomes reviled by his family and his people as previously hidden dark deeds come to light.  A young woman loses her innocence and freedom through the machinations of the lord of the un...

9 Aug 20221h 58min

There is no secular story nearly so important to the Western tradition as the Odyssey, a timeless tale of heroism, achievement, and loss.  The subject matter of this epic poem has found its way into m...

27 Juni 20222h 14min

We all know that feeling when we want to marry one rebel leader, but our father wants us to marry the chief rebel leader, but then one day a wandering king disguised as a huntsman starts chatting us u...

23 Apr 20221h 58min

Meet Maestro Joseph Rescigno–gentleman, author, and opera conductor extraordinaire.  The Maestro joins OFE for this wide-ranging discussion of the how, what, and why of conducting opera.  Drawing on m...

5 Mars 20221h 58min